The University of Michigan has launched a feature on its mobile app that enables students to see how crowded the campus rec center is, offering real-time patronage updates for each room in the facility.

As reported by The Michigan Daily, the new app function enables students to view the number of patrons in the campus rec center and sports facilities, as well as what equipment is currently being used. The app mimics similar features to an existing function within Michigan’s mobile app that tracks traffic at campus dining halls.

The development of the rec center monitoring feature and its addition to the official university app is the result of a collaboration between College of Engineering students and univeristy Information and Technology Services. Underpinning the feature is a donation made by Michigan’s student government to buy iPads that are to be used every half hour by rec center employees to manually walk the building and count people using the equipment.

The app feature is designed to give students an idea of how busy the rec facility is, including how many people are in each room. The app will display the number of patrons in the weight room, on the running track, in the swimming pool, in lounges and in racquetball courts, university officials say. Also included in the app is a timestamp for when attendance figures were last updated.

The feature can be accessed through Michigan’s official app from the “Student Life” tab and is currently collecting data from three campus locations: the Central Campus Recreational Building, the North Campus Recreational Building and the Intramural Sports Building.

The feature is still in its infancy, but university officials intend to support the program and see it reach maturity with members of the campus community using it regularly.